


In their bones

by NicoleCollard



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon - TV, F/M, Post-Riverrun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 21:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13510269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicoleCollard/pseuds/NicoleCollard
Summary: After escaping Riverrun by boat, Brienne thinks she's never going to see Jaime again. But what if he had other things in mind instead of just waving them goodbye from the battlements?This is just a little idea that has been playing in my mind for a while.





	In their bones

**Author's Note:**

> I need to warn you that English is not my first language and this story is unbetaed, so forgive my mistakes if you can.  
> I don't think this fic is really something, but I just want to gift it to the members of the JBO family for their talent, warmth and encouragement.
> 
> Enjoy!

Violent screams kept reaching their ears while Brienne and Podrick sailed away from Riverrun. From the sounds coming from above, Brienne could tell there wasn't a proper battle, since Edmure Tully had surrendered the castle. She hoped the Lannister troops were at least sparing the Tully soldier's lives, as she had asked Jaime, if not the Blackfish's. Brienne was absolutely sure that the old knight would have put up a fight, as he had promised her despite her pleas.

Pod kept rowing without rest in order to put some distance between them and the fortress. They knew not even Jaime Lannister could interfere to save them in the middle of an assault and in front of his whole army without being called a traitor, so this rushed escape was the only solution. Brienne didn't want to put him in that uncomfortable situation if she could help it, though deep inside, she still felt guilty for leaving the Blackfish behind. Her heart was torn apart, because she had failed to defend Sansa's interests and had fled the battle showing no honour, but a wave of gratitude and relief was filling her chest at the same time, since she wouldn't have to fight Jaime this time.

When the little boat had covered a fair distance -but still not enough to lose sight of the castle-, Brienne noticed something in Pod's eyes that made her turn her head round with curiosity. It took her little time to find out what had startled her squire: Jaime Lannister's well-known silhouette had just appeared on the upper battlements, his Lannister armour glowing feebly under the moonlight. Brienne's heart started pounding against her chest. For a heartbeat, she wondered if Jaime would reveal their position to his soldiers, but soon she forced her mind to calm down. He had proven to be a reliable and honourable ally after all, and when she saw worried Jaime look around just to check whether his men had spotted the boat, Brienne sighed in relief. At the same time, an iron claw clenched her heart with the bleak certainty that she may never see him again.

Suddenly, Jaime started to move his arm back and forth in the air. At first, Brienne thought he was just waving them goodbye and raised her own hand to mirror his gesture, but after a few seconds of insistent waving, she started doubting.

“What is he doing?”, Pod inquired and slowed down his rowing pace a little.

“I-I don't know... Is he-?”, Brienne looked alternatively between distant Jaime and her squire, her brow furrowed in confusion. The Lannister commander was too far away to tell.

“I think he's pointing at the riverbank, m'lady.”

The Maid of Tarth narrowed her eyes in an attempt to improve her night vision, but the growing darkness didn't help her in this task. She raised her arm again and shooting Jaime a questioning look she doubted the man could even make out from the castle, she pointed at the riverbank where the Whispering Wood stood gloomy. Jaime nodded fiercely, pointed again and made an enlightening new gesture with both hands, flesh and golden, as if he were patting the air several times. Then it dawned in Brienne that what he wanted was for them to stop the boat by the riverbank.

Could it be a trap? The woman slapped herself mentally for her continuous doubts about Jaime's loyalty. He might just want to parley or notify her of the end of the siege using the woods as a parapet for unwanted looks. Brienne was determined to trust him, so if Jaime was asking them to stop, she would do it. With a slight nod more to herself than to her friend in the distance, she turned to Podrick and asked him to row towards the riverbank.

“Are you sure, m'lady?”, the boy said with hesitation, but he did as asked when Brienne nodded again.

As soon as Jaime saw the small boat go off course, he disappeared from the crenels, so when the lady and her squire finally jumped off the wooden boat and into the water, they couldn't spot him up there anymore. Working together, they dragged the boat along to hide it behind the first line of trees while they waited for Jaime, because he was going to show up, wasn't he? Brienne gestured towards a huge, ancient trunk to urge Pod to hide behind it and then she drew Oathkeeper just in case. She always felt better with her fingers around the golden pommel. With a pang, she remembered the moment Jaime had made her keep the sword just a few hours ago. The look on his green eyes had seemed so honest and intense that, for a second, Brienne had come to think that he was implying something else with his words. _It will always be yours..._ But nothing further from reality, of course. Jaime would never...

Brienne's ears caught a distant sound of horse trotting and she crouched down instantly to make a smaller target of herself, Oathkeeper's hilt still enclosed in her hands. A few seconds later the ground began to vibrate slightly under a horse's hoofs, and then Jaime Lannister's magnificent white palfrey came into view. The knight's handsome features were tense and he kept looking left and right alternatively from atop his horse, as if he were searching for them. When Jaime had left their hiding place behind and Brienne had checked nobody else was following him, she stood up and came out from behind the trees. She let out a quiet whistle and made her way to the open area near the water while Jaime turned round his horse to meet her. Pod poked his face round the tree when he decided it was safe to do it, and then shot a glance towards Riverrun, just to make sure they were still alone.

With a shushing sound, Jaime made his palfrey halt well away from Brienne and then, with a graceful jump, he dismounted. The Maid of Tarth tried to keep calm. She still didn't know what Jaime intended, but she was determined not to show him her discomfort or hesitation. With a mere gesture of his head, Lannister let Podrick know that he wanted him to take the reins of his mount, and so the squire did, leaving his hiding place completely. Then Jaime made his way to where Brienne was standing, Oathkeeper still unsheathed, but not brandished. He stopped a few feet away from her, his expression quite relieved, she could tell.

“I don't have much time. I made a poor excuse and left, so my men will start searching for me in the blink of an eye”, Jaime explained under his breath. “But I just wanted to... inform you that I took Riverrun without bloodshed.”

Jaime didn't know why, but suddenly, it was incredibly important for him to let Brienne know it, to allow her to go north again with the certainty that he had stayed true to his word. She gave him a thankful single nod, then asked the dreaded question.

“The Blackfish?”

Lannister lowered his gaze politely and simply shook his head. Brienne closed her eyes in understanding, because she already knew what was going to happen, and kept a respectful silence for a while, as if honouring his memory. Jaime was the first who raised his eyes again.

“I'm glad you escaped. For a moment, I thought I would find your dead bodies lying on the ground next to the Blakfish”, he said staring right at Brienne, his jaw clenched. “I didn't like the idea.”

“I should have stayed”, the Maid replied in a self-deprecating tone while sheathing Oathkeeper, still not looking at him. “I should have fought for Sansa's kin.”

Jaime shook his head again, with more violence this time, and took a step closer to her. “It would have been a suicide. You couldn't have saved him, he had made up his mind”, he reasoned. Then, after a small pause, he went on. “There will be other chances to fight, Brienne. You did the correct thing.”

At last, she dared to look at him for a few seconds, just to lower her eyes again almost immediately. Deep inside, she knew he was right, but her honour still didn't let her regrets leave her mind. She nodded slightly, still not fully convinced, but Jaime's next words made her feel a little better.

“Besides, I'm glad I didn't have to fight you. You would have made me bite the dust without mercy.”

Brienne blushed as the corners of her mouth twitched slightly upwards on their own accord. Letting out the air he had been holding through his nose, Jaime smiled at her fondly. When their eyes finally met, something like fire lit their pupils and danced inside them without restraint for a brief moment. A little scared of the intensity of their shared gaze and quite unsure of the nature of what they had just seen in each other's eyes, both looked away immediately and swallowed. In the distance, Pod stood rooted to the spot with his mouth open, totally taken aback. Bronn's words came to his confused mind suddenly and he saw the truth clear as day right in front of him.

For a little while, neither Jaime nor Brienne knew what to do. It was him who dared to step closer one more time. He stopped just one feet away from Brienne's trembling body and searched for her eyes. The woman was reluctant to look back at him, but she finally did it, though not before shielding herself behind a façade of rectitude and respectability. Of course, it was in vain, because when Jaime addressed her again, the sweetest notes singing in his tone, the Maid's walls fell down instantly.

“Be careful, my dear Brienne.”

Her eyes filled with tears, so she swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump in her throat. When she dared to speak, some tears could be heard in her voice. “And you.”

Then Jaime did something that took them both by surprise: with an only step forward, he closed the distance between them and threw his arms around Brienne's torso. She gasped when he rested his golden hand on the small of her back and raised his left to her hair to pull her into a tight and fierce embrace. Brienne could feel Jaime's body shiver against hers with something she wasn't able to identify. Rage? Fear? She was so startled by his impulsive gesture that she didn't dare to move at first. Her limbs stayed frozen for what seemed like ages, though it only really took her a few seconds to realise that Jaime didn't intend to let go of her anytime soon, so she finally gave in and hugged him back, a violent earthquake shaking her from head to toe when she surrounded his shoulders with her arms. Then, unexpectedly, a sudden vision came to Brienne's and Jaime's minds at the same time: pleasant images of summer, green grass and blue waters, all accompanied by children's laughter, though none of them could explain whether they were remembering good old times, wishing for a beautiful future or reading their destinies written in the unsteady lines of their shared hug.

They stepped apart as if they had been marked with a red-hot iron, even more frightened than before. Staring into each other's depths, they found out something they didn't want to acknowledge because they knew they couldn't put it into words, if there were really any words to say. With war threatening both their armies from around the corner, with Cersei waiting for him down south and with her vows to Sansa so fresh in her mind, even their friendship was a pure nonsense. Still Jaime took Brienne's hand in his carefully and squeezed it with fondness, with finality, with concern.

“Stay alive”, he only managed to say, though he was sure her departure deserved a little more eloquence. But it was a fact that they could never find a lot to say whenever they parted ways, so Jaime hoped Brienne could understand so much more in his farewell, at least how important she was to him, how necessary her survival was.

With a resigned nod, the Maid let go of his hand and walked away from Jaime, right towards the boat that was still hidden behind the first trees of the forest. Brienne knew that if she kept looking into his beautiful hypnotising eyes, she would end up crying or doing something she would surely regret right away. Without taking his eyes from her, the Lord Commander of the Lannister forces strode to where Pod was still holding his palfrey and grabbed its reins, letting the squire go help his brave lady knight with the task.

When the boat was afloat again and his two friends were already stuffed in it, Jaime got on his horse, his gaze still following the huge form of Brienne of Tarth. He could only make out her back now, as she was making amazing efforts not to look back at him. She couldn't break down right now, she needed to keep her cool head for herself, for Jaime and for Podrick, who had started rowing again with an odd expression on his young face.

Right when Jaime had reached the conclusion that she wasn't going to turn round to look at him and he was just about to spur on his horse to return to the fortress, she did. Brienne's astonishing sapphire eyes shone under the moonlight for a second and their glow blinded him. With an uncomfortable swallow, Jaime gave her a single nod and raised his golden hand as a final goodbye, which she returned. Then, Lannister urged on his loyal mount and he disappeared upstream, the sound of his horse's gallop trailing behind him as the only and already fading proof of the conversation between the knight and the lady. But, for some reason, with the slight autumn breeze hitting their faces, they knew this wouldn't be their last meeting, they could feel it in their bones. As they got away from each other, their ways parting inexorably one more time, both Brienne and Jaime somehow knew their destinies were intertwined.

And suddenly a warm sensation filled their hearts.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you liked this odd little thing that came to my mind. Thanks for reading!


End file.
